Asylum seekers in Tukwila must return to encampment after hotel funds during cold snap run out

TUKWILA, Wash. - The winter conditions had dozens of asylum seekers refusing to return to an encampment they’d been living at for months outside of a Tukwila church. During the recent cold snap, the immigrants were temporarily placed in hotels. 

As of Wednesday, the money paying for the rooms ran out, forcing the individuals and families to leave.

"You can see that they’re being asked to go back to the camp and it’s pouring rain and there’s ice on the ground," said Chet, a concerned community member and interpreter.

An influx of asylum seekers has been coming almost daily to the Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila since early 2023. Most of them are escaping governmental abuses, including arbitrary arrests and human rights violations.

Prior to the surge of people, Pastor Jan Bolerjack explained her church has a tiny home village on site and provides a community food bank for those in need. Bolerjack said the asylum seekers were referred to her church for assistance, though she doesn’t know who is referring them and why it continues happening. Still, her church staff and community members voluntarily do what they can to help the individuals and families. 

"These folks have gone through a lot of traumas in their lives, and I just don’t want them landing here to be just one more trauma," Bolerjack previously told FOX 13.

John from Angola is one of the asylum seekers. John spoke in French outside of the Homewood Suites hotel in Tukwila as Chet summarized John’s responses.

"He’s saying there are some people that have been there for over a year. Some people for eight months, six months. In his case it’s been eight months that he’s been at the camp," Chet summarized.

Riverton Park United Methodist Church paid for rooms for approximately 50 people at a hotel in Tukwila last week. However, a frozen pipe at the hotel burst and caused flooding. Nora Gierloff, community development director for City of Tukwila, said the church called asking for help transitioning the asylees. 

"We were able to negotiate a discount at the second hotel and we’re paying the delta for that, although we’re hoping we can find some reimbursement for that," said Gierloff. "Unfortunately, no one has money earmarked for this. And that’s the reason why we can’t let them stay longer. I can understand their reluctance to go back, but unfortunately there’s not another option."

Not only has the frigid weather in the current cold snap been a concern, but John also said their concerns for health continued growing. He claimed conditions were inhumane at the encampment, causing illnesses to spread.

"There’s also a major health problem, hygiene problem. They don’t have places like bathrooms that are really hygienic. They don’t have access to very good sanitation there. And so, there’s women even that are very sick," Chet summarized for John.

Public Health – Seattle & King County said its Health Care for the Homeless Medical Mobile Van provides care regularly at the encampment, as well as scheduled vaccination clinics.

In December 2023, King County provided $3 million to cover hotel stays for the asylum seekers. The county’s Department of Community and Human Services said 95 of the 100 rooms purchased are occupied. This equates to a total of 304 people in the hotels as of January 17, with new totals expected as early as Wednesday night.

With continued efforts to get asylees into more permanent quarters, living conditions remain a top issue for those who have been camping outside the church for months as they wait for their immigration paperwork to process.

"New people show up every day. So, even if we were able to place everyone who’s currently at the church, it’s an ongoing issue and we haven’t found a response at that scale," said Gierloff. "We have budget issues, we have frozen positions in the city. We have limited resources with a small city like this. So, we’re not able to make a big move other than the staff time that we’ve spent and the assistance with fencing and garbage pickup and people to help run and keep track of the situation at the church. But, we’re pretty strapped and housing is really such a big lift."

As the asylum seekers, church, city, and community calls on state and federal leaders to lend aid to the issue, The Office of the Governor said its working with several partners. Representatives from the office explained they "can only work with the resources in the budget," also noting "there isn’t a federal financial program that specifically supports asylum seekers."

Mike Faulk, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, said Governor Jay Inslee’s, "supplemental budget increases funding for programs that already support refugees and asylum seekers – an additional $5 million for ORIA for their ongoing work with immigrant and refugee communities and an additional $3 million for a grant program that helps counties support newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers – but if approved the additional funds wouldn’t be available until the summer."

"We really need larger scale response, probably at a statewide level. All these other cities, Chicago and New York and Denver, are in the same situation at a larger scale than we are. But it really needs to be a coordinated response and an understanding that the problem continues to grow every day," said Gierloff.

Gierloff explained the city meets weekly with county, state and federal officials discussing the influx of asylum seekers coming to Tukwila, and what can be done to improve support efforts. Faulk said it’s unclear why the asylees keep showing up to Tukwila specifically, stating the governor’s office has "only heard the same rumors everyone else has."

"We also don’t know how many asylum seekers are showing up in other WA communities. There’s no way to track this after the federal government has processed them and given them a court date. There’s no federal funding for them, and the federal government also prevents them from working legally in the U.S.," wrote Faulk in a statement. 

People like John said they can’t afford to wait much longer and need support now.

"Access to work. They aren’t able to work right now because they don’t have papers, work papers. And so, if they were able to work, then they would be able to help support themselves and contribute to society," said Chet interpreting for John.

The Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA) said it invested $60,000 into language access and legal support for newly arriving immigrants and asylum seekers. OIRA said it also contracted with a local partner, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, to provide:

• Orientation videos about asylum process in the US and hand-out materials to reach as many people as possible;
• One-on-one legal consultations;
• Legal clinics to help apply for asylum and work authorizations;
• Legal training for pro bono attorneys; and
• Workshops for social services partners assisting asylum seekers.